Discussions By Condition: Cardiovascular disease

why does my heart suddenly start racing?

i am 21 years old and i was diagnosed with sinus tachycardia, i am taking beta-blockers to treat this. my question is why does my heart start racing all of a sudden. it happens when i don't make any effort at all, all i do is sit and watch a movie for example and my heart starts racing and starts beating really hard (like it's jumping out of my chest). i had a ekg holter put on and i caught one of those moments, i practically had about 70-80 beats per minute and then all of a sudden my heart started racing and it went up to 100 something and thats how it is all the time. this happens to me at least once a day without making any effort. i haven't had any alchool or caffeine in the last 3 months so that can be ruled out. i had a thyroid test done and it's not that. i also had numerous ekgs done and they found nothing. i've seen a few doctors and they told me its nothing dangerous and they sent me home

2 Replies:

Hello, I was told I had supraventical tycaria. Which makes my heart race as well. It brought me to the ER twice with fear. At 1st I only noticed palpuations, like a flutter in my chest then I noticed thumping and racing. The doctors have never been able to catch it because by the time I get to the ER or doctor my heart rate has gone back to normal. Last year in November my husband called 911 because it went on for an hour or so. When the paramedics got here they did checked my pulse by hand and it was up to 170. By the time they got me to the ambulence it was back to 70. He said the cold air shocked it back normal? I have had a ton of tests and everything has come back fine. My doc believes it is just something I have to live with and some people have it for no reason. I am also on a beta-blocker which seems to help but I can only be on a very small dose due to my blood pressure usually runs around 105/60. The one thing I was told, was not to worry(which is not an easy thing to do, it freaks you out when it is happening) and when you feel your heart race go lie down and calm yourself down. The more you freak when it is happening the worse it can get. The other thing I was told was you can stick your face in cold water or do a really big cough and that will shock your heart rate back to normal. I have not tried any of those yet. I usually go lay down and close my eyesSorry to hear your going thru this as well. I know it is annoying and scary. Good luck

I had the same symptoms that you both describe and found it to be a reaction to the diet sweetner nutrisweet (aspartame). Do either of you consume diet drinks or diet foods with artificial sweetners? I eliminated all nutrisweet from my diet and all my symptoms disappeared. Nutrisweet goes by many names and you will have to read the labels of everything you eat but eliminate it for a week and see if it doesn't help. (My cardiologist couldn't find anything either.) I had to do some investigation myself and googled 'problems with nutrisweet' and found that racing heart is a side-effect listed among many others. I have a sensitivity to it and to the new sweetner splenda so I steer clear of both and since then have had no problems. Artificial sweetners are not as safe as we have been lead to believe. This may not be your problem but it is worth a try if you consume artificial sweetners. Just a suggestion.....